紫杉
zǐ​shān

Japanese yew

紫 zǐ purple

Phonosemantic compound. 糸 represents the meaning and 此 represents the sound.

Components

糸
糸 Meaning component
mì, sī silk
此
此 Sound component
cǐ this

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangʔseʔ
Unicodetziɛ̌

說文解字

帛青赤色。从糸此聲。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

杉 shān various species of pine and fir

Phonosemantic compound. 木 represents the meaning and 彡 represents the sound.

Components

木
木 Meaning component
mù tree
彡
彡 Sound component
shān, xiǎn hair

Character Evolution

Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangsreːm
Unicodeshræm

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica